Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday has expressed that the current scenarios are terrible for organizing a bilateral cricket series between India and Pakistan due to the tense political relations between the two countries. Speaking on a Sky Sports documentary, he said it will not be conducive to play bilateral cricket at present.

In the documentary, Imran Khan said, “I just think playing cricket in this atmosphere with India with the sort of government they have in power, I would say it would be a terrible atmosphere to play bilateral cricket in.”

India and Pakistan have not played a bilateral Test series since the 2012-13 season. Khan, who was captain when Pakistan won the 1992 World Cup, recalled that he had played a couple of series in India in 1979 and in 1987 and the atmosphere had been good for cricket between the two countries then.

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The Pakistan PM said, “They were big crowds and the governments were also trying to remove barriers and come close and it meant the atmosphere on the field was great with the crowds appreciating both teams for good cricket in 1979. But in 1987 when I captained Pakistan to India the atmosphere was not very good and there was a lot of hostility from the crowds as well because there were tensions between the two governments.”

Khan said when India had visited Pakistan during the 2005-06 season, where his team lost and the crowd cheered the visiting side. The Pakistan Prime Minister also went on to clarify that the Indo-Pakistan series was a bigger cricket contest than even the Ashes. He noted that in an Indo-Pakistan series performers have often been termed as heroes.

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Imran Khan elaborated, “I am fascinated by T20 cricket and the variety of shots that are played in this format. I see the final five overs of a match as the best time to watch proceedings. If it’s a close game, it’s quite fun to watch. As a connoisseur of cricket, but obviously belonging to the old school, for me Test cricket remains the ultimate competition in cricket.”